ANNE'S STORY

Positive, encouraging, brilliant, lovely, supportive, friend, put a smile on my face. These are all words that could be used to describe our volunteers and in fact they are all words that have been used by respiratory patients when they were asked to give feedback on our Pulmonary Rehab Buddy Anne Richardson. Prior to the pandemic, Anne buddied in our face-to-face groups and she has carried on her great work in our Remote Rehab groups on Zoom.

Here’s her story:

“I remember one of the nurses at the hospital coming when I was diagnosed and put on oxygen and saying we’d like you to go to Hope Street and I thought, no, I’ll never go to that place down Oxford Street.

I remember the bus turning up and thinking, oh my good god, this is what I’ve come to, mixing with a load of old people. But how wrong was I?!

I could probably walk 30 metres before I went to Hope Street and I did my eight weeks and then straightaway I did another eight weeks and I could not believe how well I felt. It changed my life completely, because my husband had just died and I was so lonely. I remember Angie and Jenny saying, why don’t you become a Buddy too, but I didn’t think I’d be very good and I couldn’t see what I had to give. Once again, how wrong was I?!

That was four years ago and it’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me, it really is. I love it.”